484 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
of Boomslang bites, blood taken before death appeared to have 
lost entirely the power of coagulating, and this was also seen 
in one case (out of six) of Puff Adder bite. Partial loss of co- 
agulability was seen ante-mortem in one case of Cobra bite in 
a sheep, and in several cases post-mortem coagulation appeared 
to be incomplete. 
It would appear from our experiments that, in the majority 
of cases of snake bite in larger animals, no structural alterations 
in the blood can be observed during life. There may, however, 
be a diminished coagulative power, and this is seen especially 
as a result of the bite of a Boomslang. 
It will be necessary to confirm and amplify these results by 
further investigations. 
W. HoRNER ANDREWS. 
B. 
THE VENOM OF THE SCHAAPSTEKER. 
(Another back-fanged Snake.) 
The Schaapsteker is one of the back-fanged division of snakes. 
The fangs are set halfway back in the upper jaw. They are 
grooved, and like all the back-fanged snakes the Schaapstekers 
possess poison glands. These glands, however, are not some 
distance from the fangs nor connected with them by tiny ducts 
or tubes, as is the case with front-fanged snakes. The glands 
are situated immediately under the skin. One end of the poison 
gland comes against a hole in the upper jaw in which the fangs 
are set, and the venom oozes down through this hole into a 
mucous sheath which envelopes the fangs. The venom is of 
greater consistency than that of the typically venomous front- 
fanged snakes. It collects in this mucous sheath. When the 
snake bites, in order to get the venom into the wound, it is 
obliged to take a firm grip and press the fangs strongly into the 
flesh. The longer it is allowed to grip and worry the flesh, the 
more venom it will force through the fangs. It is generally 
believed that the Schaapsteker, as its name implies, is in the 
habit of biting sheep. The fangs of these snakes are so smal 
that even if a full grip were obtained on a sheep’s leg, they, 
